iPhone Soars on Eve of gPhone's Release

Here we are, the night before Google, HTC and T-Mobile unveil the highly anticipated "Dream" smartphone -- otherwise known as the gPhone -- and Appletries to ruin the party with headline-stealing news of its own.

AP

Apple iPhone

Apple's good news comes courtesy of Piper Jaffray which reports late Monday that Apple has sold a whopping 5 million iPhone 3G's on the quarter. Keep in mind that we already knew Apple sold about a million units that first weekend they hit the market. Selling 4 million units since then is no small feat.

Apple reports earnings in mid-October, but this progress report is a key metric. Apple had projected 10 million units for all of of 2008, a goal that seems easily achievable now.

Why is this worth noting? Apple shares once again followed the rest of the market lower today, for no apparent reason other than the rest of the market went lower today. Macs are selling. iPhones are selling. The iPod refresh earlier this month will likely translate into good numbers for that part of Apple's business, too. Fundamentals. This isn't about pumping. Or cheerleading. It's about the ongoing Wall Street disconnect between stock performance and a company's true financial performance.

Wall Street lately reminds me of what my mom used to tell me when I followed the crowd: If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge too? If everyone was selling Apple, even with the fundamentals so strong, and the outlook solid, would you sell Apple too? Or be buying low?

Five million iPhones in the current quarter, says Piper, even with Google's gPhone on the way, and several new offerings from Research in Motion . Oh, and that $21 billion in cash we've been talking about. It just seems like this is one of those times actually to buy low and sell high down the road.

Apple's got the 'Big Mo' on its side. And at some point, maybe even soon, Wall Street's gonna realize it.